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By Mary Karugaba
FINANCE state minister Mwesigwa Rukutana yesterday told MPs on the finance committee that the government hurriedly signed the Bidco palm oil project agreement because the International Fund for Agriculture Develo-pment (IFAD) had threatened to withdraw support.
Rukutana and agriculture state minister Kibirige Ssebunya, appeared before the committee to explain why the agreement was drafted and signed on the same day.
�We were in a panic because IFAD was threatening to withdraw its support if we did not sign the agreement. We were fighting against time to get the loan,� Rukutana said.
IFAD agreed to extend to a loan worth $20m, while Bidco would raise $120m and the rest to be from the government.
But Mps rejected his explanation saying it was not enough to let the government be blindfolded into extending huge incentives to one company.
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New Vision: Thursday, 15th April, 2004Oil Millers To Get Concessions
By Ricks Kayizzi
ALL investors who engage in producing and processing of palm oil will be awarded concessions in order to ensure speedy development of the sector, Sam Kuteesa, the finance minister in charge of investment has said.
�We have reviewed our policy and made it such that every investor who brings money into the oil producing and processing sector will receive tax concessions similar to those given to BIDCO Oil Refinery,� he said recently.
Kuteesa (right) was responding to concerns by the Uganda Oil Seed because it is very big.
He said since the country enjoys a customs union tariff of 25% against all products coming into this country, �Anyone who creates a project of the BIDCO magnitude will enjoy the same incentives and tax regime.�
BIDCO, which was availed 26,000 hectares of land in Kalangala and Bugala islands, also enjoys a 25-year tax concession.
Kuteesa hailed the International Fund on Agricul
tural Development (IFAD) for availing a $20m loan for the project.
Meanwhile, BIDCO will spend $50m of their own funds.
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New Vision: Thursday, 15th April, 2004
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